There are many kinds of linear lighting apparatuses. Many of the most recent ones consist of light emitting diodes (LEDs) as light sources. LEDs are individual light sources, that, when combined on a flexible strip, can give off a linear “line” of light. This line of light is desirable in both offices and homes, in vertical and horizontal installations (and any angle in between).
One limitation that exists in the industry today is the lack of a product that is well-designed for recessed curved flangeless installation, using a remotely installed driver, inside drywall, such as ⅝″ thick, which is a common thickness of drywall. One advantage of remotely installing an LED driver is that the driver can easily be changed upon device failure, without the need for removing the entire fixture.
In order for a product to be considered to be “flangeless” by common standards, it has to contain a thin flange, which allows for the installer to stop the spackle before the lens. Without such a flange, the spackle installation will be messy and won't give the light a seamless look.
Most curved fixtures in the marketplace today are surface mounted (meaning immediately below or above the ceiling/wall) or pendant mounted (meaning held beneath the ceiling with aircraft cable or similar hanging apparatus). A recessed curved fixture is difficult to manufacture for several reasons: 1) If driver is integral, which is the case in many recessed linear fixtures) it would be problematic to place the driver in a curved fixture, as the drivers are generally linear and rectangular, and have a few inches in length, something that the curved fixture would need to accommodate for. So the curvature of the fixture would be limited in angles/radius offered. 2) If rigid LED boards are used, the LED boards would have to be customized for each curve separately. 3) The lens would either have to be flexible or custom cut somehow to the particular curve. 4) If the flange described in paragraph above is made from the same extrusion as the fixture, it would need to bend. Something as thin as this flange would be difficult if not impossible to bend in the direction needed to form a curved line of light on the wall; the flange would warp almost immediately during the bending process. 5) Finally, if the product was to be thicker than the thickness of drywall itself, complicated measurements would need to be factored in order to accommodate the fixture within the studs.